The Washington Nationals have come crashing back down to earth as of recent. After a 9-4 start to September, the Nationals just capped off an ugly 4-game sweep at the hands of the NL East rival Atlanta Braves, and the series finale with the chance to salvage a game to save some pride in the series went out the window.
Wednesday's game got out of hand after a rare collapse from the team's bullpen, which believe it or not has not been as much of a common occurrence as has been the case previously for this organization. After a solid outing from Brad Lord in which he allowed just 2 earned runs on 6 hits in 5.1 innings while striking out 4 and walking 1, the bullpen trio of Clayton Beeter, newcomer Sauryn Lao, and lefty Shinnosuke Ogasawara ended up surrendering 7 earned runs in just 3.2 innings of work.
The team's performance in the series overall did little to inspire fans that the team would be able to match or even surpass the win total of the last 2 years with 71. The Nationals sit at just 62 wins with 9 games to play, so they literally would have to win out in order to even match their previous totals. In what was supposed to be a year of the team actually competing, according to former GM Mike Rizzo and former Manager Davey Martinez, they were severely incorrect in their assumption, which is part of the reason they were both fired back in July.
Washington's offense was underwhelming again on Wednesday, failing to leave the yard and scoring 3 out of their 4 runs in the 5th inning before scoring another one in the 9th. James Wood, Dylan Crews, and Luis Garcia Jr. all notched 2 hits apiece, but the lineup failed to draw a single walk in the game. It is not the first time this has happened, and the end of this season and infusion of fresh faces on the coaching staff and front office can't come soon enough.
One other noteworthy piece from this game is that newly acquired reliever Sauryn Lao, who was claimed off waivers from the Seattle Mariners recently, made his debut for the Nationals, although it was uninspiring in the end. Lao pitched 2.0 innings, and allowed 2 earned runs on 3 hits while striking out a pair of batters. In what has been a lost year for the team overall, Lao is the kind of player worth taking a chance on for the future, and it will be interesting to see what sort of opportunities he gets to end this year.
How many wins will the Nationals finish this season with? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.